5/12 I have a Nikon D80 and I'm looking for a good flashlight
system that'll go with it. I'd like to use the diffuser to
bounce the ceiling for softer lighting. What's a good
flashlight system for a D80? ok thx
\_ By the way when I set my D80 to flash rear-sync + slow (flash
at the END of the shutter not the beginning, with slow
exposure to capture background ambience colour better),
it always flashes twice-- once in the beginning and once at
the end. But I thought rear-sync only flashes once at
the end. Why does it flash twice? I don't have silly red-eye
reduction if you're wondering already -op
\_ Almost all (actually likely all) TTL (through-the-lens)
flash system uses 2-step metering. It does a low-power
preflash to measure the scene, calculates the final
flash power, and goes into actual exposure. The first
step happens without the shutter ever opening, of
course. With normal flash, they happen close enough to
each other that most people don't notice there were
actually two flashes. With rear-sync, it becomes
completely obvious.
\_ That's EXACTLY what it was... low power flash followed
by a high power flash. I just tried it again without
rear-sync and it happens so fast you don't see it. I
don't use rear-sync anymore to reduce this problem, but
it's not easy to tell your subject to stand still for 1/2
second in extreme low light situations since they have a
tendency to move right after the flash. Anyways,
YOU ARE CAMERA GOD, thank you. -op/pp
\_ I thought TTL metering is by measuring the light reflected
off the film's surface, which has to happen when the shutter
is open. No? -- !OP
off the film's surface, which occurs only when the shutter is
open. No? -- !OP
\_ Actually, that's correct. However, as far as I'm aware of,
no digital camera uses that technique. I guess I should've
said E-TTL or something. They're all just terms anyway.
dSLRs measure light before the shutter, and using a
separate preflash. On old film cameras with "classic" TTL,
there was only one flash, which gets shut off in a hurry
when enough light has reached the sensor looking at the
film. Whew!
\_ Are you using the built-in flash? I can try it out on mine
tonight and see what happens.
\_ Yeah I mean the built in flash. -pp, op
\_ Can you give me more details of your setting? E.g. are you
using P mode or M mode? If M, what shttter speed? Any
menu settings that you changed from the default values?
\_ I'm at work but let me see if I can remember. I used
the A mode, I almost open up the aperature to the
widest so that the shutter would be faster (1/30,
1/2, etc) at night time, hand held.
\_ Depends on what you want to do (e.g. being portable vs. in a studio
setting). I use my D80 with an SB-28 and a Sigma EF 430 Super
(neither of which are really compatible with D80) bouncing off two
Photogenic Eclipse 45" umbrellas for soft lighting. This way I
have fleshlights for portability, and very soft lighting when I
\_ Amazing. Is it junior high in here?
have flashlights for portability, and very soft lighting when I
have flashes for portability, and very soft lighting when I
don't need to move around. Of course if I have the $$, I'd rather
get some real strobes for the studio setting.

5/12 Another big disaster in Asia in a week:
"Death toll in China earthquake up to nearly 9,000"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080512/ap_on_re_as/china_earthquake
\_ my work place is full of mainlanders trying to get funding
to help their fellow mainlanders. however, they're also the
people who are insulted at FREE TIBET and LEAVE TAIWAN ALONE
slogans and we've had heated arguments on this. why should i
help people who just want to fuck your homeland?
\_ It's nobody's business but China's, but hand over your donations.
\_ Very few American knows that China donated 5 million US$
for the Katrina disaster (that's from the government alone)
because it was rarely, if at all, reported in the media.
But I guess most Americans consider New Orleans an hostile
alien regime that should be wiped out anyway.
\_ I'm pretty much as anti-PRC as a person can get, but getting
the Premier out to the disaster sites and having him shouting
to survivors to hang in there is poignant. Go, PLA, go!
\_ It's funny how accidental deaths are only a concern to
governments when they happen in a large enough spurt
that there is intense media coverage.

5/12 Why is everyone calling it Myanmar? Wasn't that the name given Burma
by the same military junta that's not letting aid in now?
\_ yes.
\_ They aren't. You still see news orginizations calling it Burma all
the time.
\_ Some are some aren't, some are calling it both. If a thuggish
govt. changes the name of a country, should be always continue to
call it by the old name? That seems like an odd policy.
\_ Myanmar is also one of the old names for the region in the
native tongue, according to a knowledgable friend.
\_ Wikipedia weighs in: "Within the Burmese language, Myanmar is
the written, literary name of the country, while Bama or Bamar
(from which "Burma" derives) is the oral, colloquial name. In
spoken Burmese, the distinction is less clear than the English
transliteration suggests."
\_ Calling it Burma strikes terror into the hearts of dictators
everywhere! They'll be a fully democratic country in a matter of
days!
\_ Why worry what Burma wants to be called in English? English has
English-specific names for loads of cities and places, as do
foreign languages for other places. If it was some kind of
insulting name then maybe, but Rangoon vs. Yangon or whatever,
nobody should pay attention to the junta.

5/12 Where does Google go next? Yes, it's making gobs of money. Yes, it's
full of smart people. Yes, it's a wonderful place to work. So why
are so many people leaving? By Adam Lashinsky, senior writer
http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/09/technology/where_does_google_go.fortune
\_ Maybe they don't have enough new business plan to require so many
smart people?
\_ It takes an army of PhDs to sell online ads!
\_ Without turnover and recruitment stats, this article doesn't really
say anything. People will always leave companies, no matter how
successful, and "I'm a pre-IPO employee at Google" is a ticket to
anywhere. How does Google's turnover compare with Yahoo's? -tom
\_ Why would you compare Google's turnover to Yahoo's? Even if
it's lower, that doesn't support your implicit thesis that
Google isn't having more turnover than would be "expected",
considering Google is supposed to be more attractive than Yahoo.
\_ Google will ALWAYS out-hire Yahoo, at least those who
are in their 20s, for several reasons. First of all,
it's atmosphere is not too different than Stanford
life. AMAZING FOOD (5 stars), laundry, amazing gym,
car wash, dentist, massage, GAMES GAMES GAMES, and
lots of restless and smart young people who like to
stay late and work on... stuff.
\_ The food is good but it sure as hell isn't 5 stars.
\_ True. They have over 50 cafes in the US (not just
mountain view) but only one of them is 5 star, and
it's not on campus for obvious reasons. Just like
all marketing bullshit like "Hey some of our
merchandize is 50% off!"
\_ ALWAYS is a really long time.
\_ What is the "expected" rate of turnover? Is Google's higher
than that? Is Google's higher than its competitors' (assuming
there are any left?) The article doesn't attempt to get at
meaningful questions; it lists half a dozen context-free
anecdotes. -tom
\_ That's why "expected" is in quotes. No one can give an
absolute "expected" turnover rate for any company, only
some rate relative to its peer group. In particular,
Google's turnover rate compared to Yahoo doesn't support
your argument regardless of which way it goes.
\_ my argument is that the article is crap, and I think
that's pretty obvious. -tom
\_ Okay, so no one need ever write any articles about
Google's hiring practices because they will all
necessarily be unsubstantiated crap.
\_ Nice straw man. *This* article is crap. -tom
\_ Google has always been secretive about things. Did you
expect this guy to give hard numbers on Google's actual
turnover rate compared to previous years? I'm sure he
would if he could. That doesn't mean you can't draw
conclusions based on those things that you can see
(e.g., perhaps a higher rate of turnover among the
executive ranks, which is far more obvious).
\_ Some quotes I picked out:
"They have a fantastic cash cow. They need a goat and a chicken."
"I was surprised by the number of things that were being done
[outside Google by former Google employees] that could have been
done at Google."
\_ What, you think noone outside of Google should write software?
\_ I think it odd that so many people found Google to not
be the environment they wanted to write software in. Why
are the employees with good ideas not sharing them with
Google or, more ominously, why isn't Google recognizing
good ideas?
\_ You find it odd that people who worked for a cool startup
and made a whole bunch of money didn't want to keep
working there once it became large and therefore
different? I would think that would be the expected
behavior. -tom
\_ It's a brain drain, don't you think? That doesn't
concern you as GOOG shareholder? That the people
who helped build GOOG don't want to work there
anymore and took their ideas with them?
\_ Their ideas aren't very important. Goog is
still a 1-idea company and they can buy whatever
other startups these guys start. Those initial
employees were also just random lottery winners
according to the motd and are easily replaced.
\_ The only good ideas in Google are those that make
money. AdWord. AdSense. If it doesn't make money,
it's not a good idea. -X-G
\_ How is that different from every other company
in the United States?
\_ Lots of companies have "good" ideas that don't make
money. http://pets.com, webvan, etc. Yahoo will be there
before long. -tom